fish down the drain :-(

[greg y]

 was doing a water change on my basement qt tank and a giant danio went up the siphon tube, in to the wash tub sink, and had his tail sticking out the drain.

As soon as I touched him he slipped in the drain, so I ran a bunch of water hoping he would somehow pop back up but it was no use.

Then I realized that the laundry goes to the homes sump so I ran over and looked down the well and there he was swimming around. I got on my belly and tried to net him out but he kept swimming away from me.

I decided to raise the water level so I could reach him so I ran more water but the sump pump kicked on.

So I unplugged it and tried again but I never saw him again after that.

:-(
Poor fish

[Steve]

That's too bad. I'm always afraid I'll do that whenever I vac the fry tank.

[Helloitsme]

Some Siphon Tubes come with guards, I think the Lee brand does. You could also get an aquarium net, cut the netting off of the frame and zip tie or rubber band it to your siphon. Just an idea.

[TrailerParkFishTanks]

I sucked up a small fish in my grow out tank yesterday too. Its never happened to me before but now I know I'm not the only one.

[linuxrulesusa]

I don't know if anyone else has done this but I ended up using the tube from a manual siphon that is a much smaller tube (1" diameter instead of 2-3" diameter) and the 3-4' length of tubing that came with it fits snugly inside the standard water changer tubing.  I've not sucked up any fish that way, plus I have finer control around smaller fish or with plants but can still get all the fish waste and crud out.

Otherwise a guard on the end is a good idea.

[rcombs]

I sucked up a small fish in my grow out tank yesterday too. Its never happened to me before but now I know I'm not the only one.

I did same thing earlier this week, luckily caught it in time. Must be something in the air this week.

[Ron]

In my tanks with small fish, I throw an empty net breeder in and using the syphon within it to avoid accidents. It limits how much I can syphon, but on the fry tanks the poop usually circulates well enough to be caught by a filter, so water changes are really just about reducing nitrates via dilution.

[LoveTheFishies]

I lost a small syno during a water change.  Dumped some grungy water down the toilet, saw the fish circling...too late.   

[Steve]

In my tanks with small fish, I throw an empty net breeder in and using the syphon within it to avoid accidents.

That's a great idea Ron, I'll have to start doing that on my fry tank because I always worry about sucking one of the smaller guys up and not even knowing it till too late.

[Sean]

I've had this happen with a baby silver arowana and didn't realize it until i found the head again when filling another tank

[Jim363]

I give you an A for your efforts though.  Sorry about your fish